California engineer ran train 'off the end of rail tracks' in attempted attack on USNS Mercy in Los Angeles, DOJ saysJordan Culver, USA TODAY
A California man faces federal charges after officials allege he ran a train "at full speed off the end of rail tracks" near the U.S. Naval Ship Mercy, the 1,000-bed floating hospital that arrived in the Port of Los Angeles last week amid the coronavirus pandemic.Eduardo Moreno, 44, of San Pedro, was charged Wednesday with one count of train wrecking after the Tuesday incident, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. Moreno told police that he believed the Mercy had "an alternate purpose related to COVID-19 or a government takeover," according to the DOJ.Moreno told law enforcement officers he "intentionally derailed and crashed the train near the Mercy." The train Moreno was conducting crashed through several barriers and came to a rest nearly...

China Concealed Extent of Virus Outbreak, U.S. Intelligence Says
By Nick Wadhams and Jennifer Jacobs
China has concealed the extent of the coronavirus outbreak in its country, under-reporting both total cases and deaths it’s suffered from the disease, the U.S. intelligence community concluded in a classified report to the White House, according to three U.S. officials.The officials asked not to be identified because the report is secret, and they declined to detail its contents. But the thrust, they said, is that China’s public reporting on cases and deaths is intentionally incomplete. Two of the officials said the report concludes that China’s numbers are fake.The report was received by the White House last week, one of the officials said.The outbreak began in China’s Hubei province in late 2019, but the country has publicly reported only about 82,000 cases and 3,300 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. That compares...

Foreign Policy
The battle against jihadi terrorism in Africa takes one of its deadliest turns yet, with consequences far beyond the region.
By Will Brown
As The World Is Distracted, Boko Haram Terrorists Strike A Key Western Ally
s the world’s attention turns almost completely to the coronavirus pandemic, the battle against jihadi terrorism in Africa’s vast Sahel region has taken one of its deadliest turns yet. On March 23, Boko Haram terrorists ambushed a military encampment of Chadian soldiers on the Boma Peninsula, in the Lake Chad region. Over seven hours, the militants—whose group’s name roughly means “non-Islamic education is a sin”—killed at least 92 heavily armed troops with machine guns and bombs and injured dozens of others.It is the deadliest attack the Chadian military has ever suffered. Chad’s ruler of 30 years—President Idriss Déby Itno—visited the site of the attack the next day and picked through the burned-out...

New York Post
Brooklyn man arrested for hoarding masks, coughing on FBI agents
By Carl Campanile
A Brooklyn man claiming to be infected with the coronavirus coughed on FBI agents who were investigating him for hoarding medical supplies, the US Attorney’s Office said Monday.Baruch Feldheim, 43, is facing charges of assault and making false statements to the feds on Sunday outside his Borough Park home where he allegedly peddled and stored massive amounts of N95 respirator masks, federal officials said.Feldheim is also accused of price-gouging. On March 18, he’s suspected of selling a New Jersey doctor about 1,000 of the masks for $12,000, a markup of roughly 700 percent, authorities said.The accused fraudster also directed another doctor to an Irvington, NJ, auto repair shop to pick up another order. There, the doctor reported to investigators that Feldheim was allegedly hoarding enough medical supplies “to outfit an entire hospital.”The materials included...

The Diplomat
The Islamic State’s Increasing Focus On India
Amid religious polarization in India, Islamic State is renewing efforts to expand its presence in the country.
By Saurav Sarkar
On March 25, a lone terrorist affiliated with Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) carried out an attack on a Sikh place of worship, the Gurudwara Har Rai Sahib, in Kabul, Afghanistan killing 25 worshipers. Some reports mentioned the presence of three attackers, including suicide bombers, in an attack that lasted for hours holding some 80 people hostage. The terrorist behind the Kabul gurudwara attack has been identified as Abu Khalid al-Hindi (real name Mohammed Mohsin) from the Indian state of Kerala. A statement by the Islamic State’s (IS) Amaq media claims the attack was “revenge for the Muslims in Kashmir” who were facing alleged atrocities at the hands of the Indian government.The recent attack, scattered violence in Jammu and Kashmir...

Homeland Security Today
DHS Releases Fiscal Year 2020 Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grant Program Notice of Funding Opportunity
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Monday released a Notice of Funding Opportunity for the FY20 Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) Grant Program. Congress provided $10 million in the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2020 (P.L. 116-93) for this grant program in December. DHS has designed the program to implement the objectives of Goal 3 of its Strategic Framework to Counter Terrorism and Targeted Violence:
Strengthen societal resistance against the drivers of violent extremism and ensure broad awareness of the threat of terrorism and targeted violence.
Counter terrorists and violent extremists’ influence online.
Develop prevention frameworks with SLTT partners to enhance their ability to identify and respond to individuals at risk of mobilizing to violence.
Develop and implement recidivism reduction programming to address individuals convicted of crimes related...

Foreign Policy
How An Iranian Airline Tied To Terrorism Likely Spread The Virus (And Lied About It)
Why is Iran the flaming epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the Middle East? One of the primary suspects is Mahan Air.
By Kevjn Lim
There are many reasons why Iran has become the Middle East’s flaming epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. They include the government trying to hide the outbreak; insufficient testing capacity; refusal to cordon off cities and Shiite shrines; superstition, politicization, and propaganda blaming Iran’s usual enemies; and the lack of seriousness in dealing with the crisis.All these factors undoubtedly play a role, but there is another, far less public suspect for bringing the disease to Iran and worsening its spread among the population: a private Iranian airline tied to the regime’s ideological army and sanctioned by the United States, which continued uninterrupted flights to and from China, including Wuhan,...

American Military News
by Ryan Morgan
Police in Chula Vista, Calif. plan to use Chinese-made aerial drones to surveil and enforce the state’s coronavirus “stay at home” orders, and to disperse crowds violating the orders.The police department has doubled its drone fleet, adding two additional DJI drones to help with its lockdown enforcement efforts, the Washington Examiner reported. U.S. officials have warned against using Chinese drones domestically.
Chula Vista’s drones would reportedly be outfitted with night-vision and loudspeakers.“We have not traditionally mounted speakers to our drones, but … if we need to cover a large area to get an announcement out, or if there were a crowd somewhere that we needed to disperse, we could do it without getting police officers involved,” Capt. Vern Sallee said in comments to the Financial Times.
Read more: https://americanmilitarynews.com/2020/03/ca-city-to-use-chinese-night-vision-drones-banned-by-us-army-to-enforce-coronavirus-lockdown/...

Department of JusticeU.S. Attorney’s OfficeWestern District of New York
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASENiagara Falls Man Who Forced The Closure Of The New York State Thruway Charged With Possessing Multiple BombsBUFFALO, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Jose M. Gandia, 47, of Niagara Falls, NY, was charged by complaint with unlawful possession of a destructive device and unlawful possession of a shortened shotgun. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth T. Molisani, who is handling the case, stated that according to the complaint, on March 25, 2020, the New York State Police received a report of an individual pointing a shotgun with a red laser out of a red pickup truck on the New York State Thruway. A trooper located the vehicle stopped behind the traffic cones of an active work zone near the Town of Hanover. The trooper approached...

One Phoenix police officer killed, two injured in shooting By KTAR.com
PHOENIX — One police officer was killed and two were injured in a Phoenix shooting on Sunday night, the police department announced.Commander Greg Carnicle was shot and killed in a domestic violence call in a neighborhood near 40th Avenue and Pinnacle Peak Road.Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams said she knew Carnicle for 30 years.“Tonight, we lost a true hero,” Williams said. “I knew him for 30 years. He and I worked together in Maryvale precinct and used to enjoy way too much Church’s Chicken on duty. To be able to stand here today and say that one of my good friends is lost is troubling.”
Read more: https://ktar.com/story/3051701/three-phoenix-police-officers-injured-in-shooting-taken-to-hospital/...

Lessons from History: The Reagan Legacyby Peter Huessy • Gatestone Institute
Even if Reagan believed the Soviets would never fire a long-range missile at the US -- which he certainly did not believe -- what about the long-range missile threats against the United States from China? Certainly, given such threats, the United States had the right to build strategic missile defenses, making any deal to forgo missile defenses with the Soviets an absurd proposition.
Even worse, what was described as "arms control" in the SALT 1 and 2 treaties was just an agreement between the Soviets and the United States largely to build-up US nuclear arsenals as it was already planning to do even without the arms treaties.
Reagan left an open window of consensus to 1) modernize the US nuclear deterrent, 2) seek future arms control that includes limiting all nuclear weapons, including China's, and 3) deploy more robust...

The Washington Free Beacon
Trump Admin Sanctions Vast Iranian Terror Network In Iraq
by Adam Kredo The Trump administration on Thursday designated a vast network of front companies and entities tied to Iran's terrorism operations in Iraq, where U.S. personnel have been under near-constant attack by militia groups armed and funded by Tehran.The new designations target "Iraq-based front companies, senior officials, and business associates that provide support to, or act for or on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), in addition to transferring lethal aid to Iranian-backed terrorist militias in Iraq, such as Kata'ib Hizballah (KH) and Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH)," according to the Treasury Department.The companies and terror groups have organized a series of rocket attacks and bombing on U.S. positions in Iraq, including one earlier this month that killed two American troops and one British soldier. At least two rockets struck inside Baghdad's Green Zone...

The Cipher Brief
The National Security Implications of the Coronavirus Pandemic
This creates glaring blind spots for ongoing counterterrorism and law enforcement cases. Transnational criminal and terrorist groups are not ...
ABC News
Bottom Line Up Front
Threats to national security have not receded as a result of the coronavirus and many have only grown more acute with resources now shifted to respond to the pandemic.
‘Social Distancing,’ while a necessary medical mitigation tactic intended to slow the rate of infection, is anathema to security missions such as cultivating HUMINT sources, maintaining troop readiness, or handling emergency response calls.
As more businesses move their operations online, there could be an uptick in cybercrime or ransomware attacks with terrorists and criminals seeking to exploit the coronavirus crisis.
The intelligence community was aware of the pandemic months ago and repeated warnings went unheeded; it will be critical for the United...

NBC News
Federal Prisons Aren't Properly Monitoring Terrorist Inmates, Report Says
According to the Justice Department inspector general, the volume of inmate email was found to be especially challenging.By Pete WilliamsWASHINGTON — The U.S. Bureau of Prisons is not adequately keeping tabs on inmates with terrorism connections, and wasn't even aware of more than two dozen of them in its own facilities, according to an audit report released Wednesday.The Justice Department inspector general, Michael Horowitz, said his team identified 28 inmates who met the federal definition of an international or domestic terrorist who were not on prison lists as requiring special monitoring. The report said in most of those cases, courts or law enforcement agencies didn't provide sufficient information about them.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/federal-prisons-aren-t-properly-monitoring-terrorist-inmates-report-says-n1168616...

ABC News
Domestic terror suspect allegedly plotted to use car bomb on hospital during coronavirus outbreak
The suspect was killed in the planning phase of the attack.
By Pierre Thomas, Jack Date, Mike Levine and Luke Barr
The FBI announced on Wednesday night that a domestic terrorism suspect who was allegedly planning to use a car bomb at a local medical facility was killed during an attempt to apprehend him just outside of Kansas City, Missouri.Timothy Wilson, 36, was "actively planning to commit an act of domestic terrorism -- a bombing -- and over the course of several months had considered several targets," according to the FBI. He had recently decided to target a hospital as news surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic picked up, sources familiar worth the investigation told ABC News.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/domestic-terrorist-allegedly-plotted-car-bomb-hospital-coronavirus/story?id=69803480...

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Southern District of New York
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Thursday, March 26, 2020
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces Narco-Terrorism Charges Against Nicolas Maduro, Current And Former Venezuelan Officials, And Farc LeadershipVenezuela’s Vice President for the Economy and Others Separately Charged with Evading OFAC Sanctions In Connection With Maduro’s 2018 Presidential CampaignWilliam Barr, the Attorney General of the United States, Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Brian Benczkowski, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, Uttam Dhillon, Acting Administrator of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), and Alysa D. Erichs, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Acting Executive Associate Director for Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”), announced the unsealing of two separate indictments charging current and former Venezuelan officials and FARC leadership. One Superseding Indictment includes narco-terrorism, drug trafficking, and weapons charges against NICOLÁS...

Law enforcement: "We will not be kicking in doors," making random stops for 'Safer at home' order
By Naomi Kowles CENTRAL WISCONSIN, Wis. (WSAW) -- While the enforcement of Governor Tony Evers' 'Safer at home' order effective Wednesday morning is in the hands of local law enforcement, it's not likely officers and deputies in Central Wisconsin will begin pulling vehicles over or making random stops for the exclusive purpose of checking compliance, multiple law enforcement officials say.Wausau police chief Ben Bliven talked with NewsChannel 7 on Tuesday afternoon about enforcement of the order, saying he had already been in discussion with the Marathon County district attorney regarding its enforcement."I want to put people's minds at ease. We aren't out there looking to arrest people and put people in jail for this type of violation. That is the furthest thing from the truth. We want people to comply, yes. We have...

Homeland Security warns terrorists may attack amid coronavirus pandemicBy Natalie MusumeciThe Department of Homeland Security has sent a memo to law enforcement officials across the nation warning that terrorists may attempt to take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic by attacking the US in the near future, according to a report.The memo by the federal agency’s Counterterrorism Mission Center and Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office cautioned: “Violent extremists probably are seeking to exploit public fears associated with the spread of COVID-19 to incite violence, intimidate targets and promote their ideologies, and we assess these efforts will intensify in the coming months,” ABC News reported.The agency said it has “no information indicating any active plotting is underway,” but did note that it has evidence of both foreign and domestic extremist groups seeking to spread fake news about the potentially deadly virus.
Read more: https://nypost.com/2020/03/25/homeland-security-warns-terrorists-may-attack-amid-coronavirus-pandemic/...

TheHill.com
Pentagon raises base security globally over coronavirus
By Ellen Mitchell
Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Wednesday raised the military’s health protection level to its second-highest setting for all Defense Department installations globally as the number of service members with coronavirus continues to increase. The Pentagon elevated the Health Protection Condition (HPCON) to Charlie, a designation which will increase the number of employees teleworking, cancel large-scale meetings and require temperatures to be taken at entrances to some buildings on military installations, Pentagon spokeswoman Alyssa Farah told reporters.She added that the measures will vary across facilities.
As of Wednesday morning, 227 service members had tested positive for the coronavirus — up 53 from the day prior — with 12 in the hospital.
Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/defense/489520-pentagon-raises-base-security-globally-over-coronavirus...

ABC 6 Action News - Philadelphia
Homeland Security warns terrorists may exploit COVID-19 pandemic
By ALEXANDER MALLINA Department of Homeland Security memo sent to law enforcement officials around the country warns that violent extremists could seek to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic by carrying out attacks against the U.S."Violent extremists probably are seeking to exploit public fears associated with the spread of COVID-19 to incite violence, intimidate targets and promote their ideologies, and we assess these efforts will intensify in the coming months," according to the intelligence bulletin, compiled by the agency's Counterterrorism Mission Center and Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office.At this time, DHS said it has "no information indicating any active plotting is underway," but that it has observed certain extremist groups, both foreign and domestic, looking to spread misinformation about the coronavirus.The memo, which was circulated on Monday, comes after assurances from FBI Director Chris Wray...